Archive for the ‘From out on the Web’ Category

Did you hear the one about Bob Dylan wandering around the Jersey shore. If you haven’t then this is one of the odder tales of the year. Could be something straight out of Weird NJ. So far ABC News has the best write up.

NJ.com has a new wrinkle to its usual sand and beach blogging fare. This year they are running a Jersey Shore Confessional. The new blog is made up of posts from shore goers wanting to relieve themselves of some guilt. There are no entries as of now but we suppose the hope is to get some of those titillating shore dramas onto the site. Yeah, we suppose NJ is also hoping to get some readers, too. Especially, in the18-34 demographic, but we digress.

There’s nothing revolutionary here. Sites where people can confess their sins, real, fake or imagined, have been around for awhile. However, JC can’t recall a major media site, no less one sponsored by an old-school newspaper like the Star Ledger, getting into this game.
No doubt, just like the shore, there will be some tall-fish tales going on but it could turn into the killer user interaction feature that NJ.com has been looking for. At least this will be more interesting than the Munchmobile.

Something tells me we’ll be hearing a lot about this blog as the summer goes on.

Someday our day boss will get off of his ass and hire enough staff to let Jerseycool maintain this blog better than he has over the past several months. However, until that day comes, or until the recession makes Jerseycool our full-time gig, we will pick an choose our moments. This is one of those moments.

We turn our attention to Joel Schwartzberg’s blog on NJ.com where he subtly implies that one of the local pizza haunts up here in Jerseycool central was less than superb the other night.

Now we can list our favorites for Joel: Naunas, Mama Leone’s, Villa Victoria, Marzulla’s but JC thought our readers should have a crack at this one. So here it is folks. Fire away at Joel and tell him where he about your favorite Montclair Jersey pizza.

There’s a nice piece about American Idol hopeful and Hoboken native Joanne Borgella over on NJ.com today. We haven’t heard enough of the singer who is also a plus-sized model to handicap her chances but here’s hoping that no risqué photos of her pop up online like a certain other Garden State hopeful from last season.

BTW, in case you missed it. This season’s Idol contests are the most talented the show has ever had. Ryan Seacrest pointed that out for the 533rd time last night.

The list was compiled by the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects and obviously there will be a considerable amount of debate. For example, in Morris County the Vanderbuilt-Twombly Mansion at Fairleigh Dickinson University was left off the list, as were the grounds, which for this alumni were quite stunning and designed by the same fella who did that big park in the middle of Manhattan. Let’s call that one a miss.

The Mansion at FDU

To each his own. The list is high on parks and buildings but ommits the state’s sprawling civil engineering achievements, such as the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and Pulaski Skyway. I dare anyone to drive the pike at night near Exit 13 and not be awed by the sheer industrial art. Or pass through Cheesequake State Park on the Parkway and not be floored as to how the road and natural landscape form an almost seamless union.

We caught a glimpse of the West Orange fireworks on Sunday night, which reminded us about the town’s funky light bulb display. If you haven’t caught site of them, the light bulbs are flashy, decorative and point out the town’s history as the home (well, one of the homes) of Thomas Edison.

The displays are also there to promote energy efficiency, a cause near and dear to this bloggers heart.

Jerseyans wondering just how bad you have it in terms of traffic congestion can now rest assured that their perception is indeed reality. It’s pretty bad.

New Jersey interstates ranked third in traffic jams in the nation, bested only by California (1) and Minnesota (2). However, including all roads, New Jersey, for apparently the 8th year in a row, had the worst road congestion.

Looking to escape this, well, North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming all had no congestion problems.

Reading lists seem to be one of the better ways bloggers can fill all there empty white space during the summer months. Hey, we’re going to have to stop writing about the Sopranos at some point.

Jerseycool dropped it’s summer reading list a few weeks ago and at least one reader (the beloved C) took up one of our recommendations and is plowing through Stephen King’s The Stand with an avarice bordering on crack addiction.

Anyway, NJ.com’s Transit Blog checks in today with a list for train commuters about train commuters. Anthony Buccino is featuring several titles detailing the various railroads and train systems in the Garden State. Interesting take on a standard column filler, we think.

We were pondering ice cream last weekend and thought about heading over to Holsteins in Bloomfield since we had never been. Lucky we decided to watch our waistlines since Holsteins is apparently a tough place to get into and there is now a certain booth that the ice cream parlor is taking reservations for, according to the NY Times.